A Brief Schematic Description of the Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) Formulation Process

1. Impetus for the review and update of the PAO CPG for the Management of Adult or Senile Cataract was provided by an unrestricted grant by the Fred Hollows Foundation.
2. The PAO Executive Council assigns the Committee on Standards to become the Steering Committee for the Project.
3. The Steering Committee contracts the Asia Pacific Center for Evidence-Based Healthcare to become the Technical Working Group.
4. Research questions are formulated and submitted to the APCEBH.
5. APCEBH creates the Evidence Base with Meta-analyses, GRADE Assessments and Forest Plots.
6. The Steering Committee develops policies and criteria for the CPG Panel, nominates, screens, and selects the Panelists, who are then invited to the conference for CPG formulation.
7. The Evidence Base, after a review by the Steering Committee, is transmitted to the Panel prior to the conference.
8. A Documentation Team is contracted by APCEBH for the proceedings and report writing.
9. The Panel conference tackles and forms recommendations for all the issues except for one.
10. The Delphi method is employed by repeated e-mails until the last issue is resolved.
11. The Documentation Team synthesizes the discussions and creates the CPG draft.
12. The CPG draft is submitted, reviewed, corrected, and finalized by the Steering Committee, the APCEBH and the Documentation Team.
13. The PAO Executive Council grants approval for the final CPG.
14. The Final CPG is presented to the Philippine Board of Ophthalmology for their endorsement to the Training Institutions with Residency Training Programs for Ophthalmology.
15. The Final CPG is presented to the body for ratification during the PAO Business Meeting.
16. The Final CPG is presented to the other Stakeholders.
17. Upon ratification, the CPG is published in the PAO Website.
18. The CPG and other support documents are compiled and prepared for publication as a Philippine Journal of Ophthalmology (PJO) Supplement.
19. Practice Patterns Survey based on the issues in the CPG is distributed and answers collated during the Annual Meeting. The same survey is to be conducted annually.
20. The PJO Supplement is distributed to all stakeholders.